From the Editor's Desk...

Sharpen the Axe
- Today is a continuation of the topic based on the concept of keeping your tools sharp so that you are ready to run when deadlines occur.

Your own direction: keeping current as a DBA
- How do you choose? With it nearly impossible to do the whole "jack of all trades" thing, how do you pick a direction and keep it at the forefront of your abilities... and which direction do you pick?

Being Efficient
- This week I'm writing a series on practices that result in efficient writing of code, or deployment of software. I'm starting with a quote from Abraham Lincoln to guide and motivate us. Perhaps you have some thoughts on the matter as well.

Are Workflow Patterns New?
- I'm really enjoying reading the work on Workflow Patterns as published on the net. What I am asking myself is if these are all new patterns, or if they are implementations of existing patterns specific to workflow processes? Maybe I'm just being picky?

Workflow Patterns
- Much like there are software development patterns for writing code, there are patterns for workflows. These patterns focus more on distribution of work and communication across work units. Still they provide some standardization of principles for workflow design.

Wait and Compare Database Change
- A popular method of database change distribution is to wait until everything is complete, and then build change scripts by comparing two different databases. While this can work, there are problems associated with this strategy.

Fail Fast/Fail Often
- Do you want to succeed? Most success is precluded with a lot more failure. Come read more to see what I mean...

Index Merging
- Many SQL Engines have built in Index Merging as part of query optimizing. An engine will join the results of two indexes and gather data based on the intersection of the two indexes. This can be a good thing. Sometimes the optimizer ignores this option. Sometimes it doesn't work well. Read on for more information.

Testing Mobile Applications
- Are you finding it difficult to test mobile applications? Perhaps we can get a dialog going here wrapped around testing in the mobile environment.